If you’ve ever met second year student Alan, you know he has a passion for movies. What you may not know, though, is Alan runs a movie review Facebook page through his alias Tex Wilcox, The Movie Monitor. The Movie Monitor started in the winter of 2016 after Alan’s uncle encouraged him to start it. In addition to the page sharing information on upcoming films, collections of photos and movie posters of the films, and Tex’s personal reviews of films, The Movie Monitor also hosts discussions on the Facebook group The Movie Monitor’s Film Critics Association, which currently has just under 1500 members.
The Movie Monitor’s mascot is Thunder the Brontosaurus (bronto means thunder), which also serves as the rating system used to review the films. For example, in a recent review of Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park (1993) the Movie Monitor gave the film the following ratings:
The Story 4/5 Frightened Scientist Brontosauruses
The Characters 3/5 Frightened Scientist Brontosauruses
The Music Score 5/5 Frightened Scientist Brontosauruses
The Special Effects 5/5 Frightened Scientist Brontosauruses
“It started out as a list of my opinions, but now I talk about what I like and don’t like about the films,” says Alan. When you ask him why he chose a Brontosaurus as the mascot, he’ll tell you, “The Brontosaurus is underrated, and T-Rex and raptors are overrated. Plus, if I were a dinosaur, I’d be Thunder.”
Alan’s favorite film is Who Framed Roger Rabbit? because Spielberg helped make the film, it is a combination of animation and live action, it’s a wacky and zany cartoon set in the 1940s, and because of the character Jessica Rabbit, who was created by Alan’s favorite animator Tex Avery. Plus, in Alan’s opinion, she’s the opposite of a Disney Princess.
Alan’s eager to review films for the OLS community and others, so reach out to Tex Wilcox, The Movie Monitor to submit a film you’d like to hear his thoughts on. Be sure to check out his latest review of True Grit posted Sept 26.
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Last Updated October 4, 2018